Red, Blue, Yellow 1951

Ellsworth Kelly made this little colour block painting using I guess maybe gouache or acrylic, but I can also imagine him doing this in oil, pushing the paint around on the paper in a thin layer, or even collaging pieces of painted paper. There is a sense of joy in the colour that feels simple, but is also sophisticated. You can imagine him trying out different variations, adjusting the proportions and placement until it felt just right. This is what painters do. I imagine Kelly felt a sense of freedom in reducing his palette to these three hues, and just letting the purity of the colours speak for themselves, almost like musical notes. There is so much thinking in painting, but there’s also a kind of knowledge that arrives without thinking, and maybe Kelly was looking for a feeling more than an idea. These colours are an echo of artists like Mondrian, and maybe he was in a conversation with him? Painting is always about talking to other paintings, and hopefully inspiring someone else to pick up a brush and start painting too.